Search

National data on student disengagement show a pervasive trend that currently makes this phenomenon one of the biggest challenges faced by teachers worldwide. Much research on student disengagement examines the problem through an indirect framework in which deficiencies in positive social conditions or psychological states are tested as predictors of disengagement. This study uses a different lens by examining how "negative" student-teacher interactions differentially predict disengagement in adolescent students. Using self-determination theory, this study advances two hypotheses: H1, student perception of psychological need thwarting will have a stronger relationship with student disengagement than student perception of the lack of need support, and H2, the relationship between student perceived psychological need thwarting and student disengagement will be mediated by psychological need frustration. With data from 4694 students, ex post facto study findings confirmed the anticipated increased variance in disengagement when testing negative student-teacher interactions. Further, the hypothesized mediating effect of psychological need frustration was supported.

Over the years, research examining student psychological ill-being has sought to explain this phenomenon based on the influences of conditions that students bring into the school environment. This study uses a different lens by directly examining how school relational conditions might be associated with psychological ill-being in students. Using the framework of Self-Determination Theory and data from 2522 US public school students, findings from this study revealed that both faculty and peer relational conditions were significantly associated with psychological need frustration, which was used as the marker for student psychological ill-being. Further, students with free-reduced lunch status reported experiencing need frustration more than their counterparts with non-free-reduced lunch status. Need frustration at the school level was also found to be associated with differences in student perceptions of school relational conditions. Collectively, findings from this study provide potentially useful directions for school practitioners and other educational stakeholders by extracting valuable markers for managing the challenge of student psychological ill-being within the school environment.

Purpose: The study begins by defining and conceptualizing Transformative Leadership Conversation (TLC). The conceptualization addresses the meaning of transformation, sensemaking and learning dialogue, and the conversation structures of framing, questioning and listening, and affirming. Next, the authors build a theoretical argument from self-determination theory on the function of TLC. The study concludes with an empirical test of the structure and function of TLC. Design/methodology/approach: There were two parts to the empirical study. First, the authors designed and tested a scale to measure TLC by its structural features (e.g. questioning, listening and affirming language). Second, the authors used a correlational design with ex-post facto data to test the primary assumption that TLC activates autonomous motivation and action. Data came from a random sample of 2,500 teachers in a southwestern state. Useable responses were obtained from 1,615 teachers, for a response rate of 65%. Findings: The empirical tests reveal that the 12-item and 6-item measure of the School Leader Transformative Conversation Scale present valid and reliable evidence on the frequent use of TLC. Consistent with the hypothesized model, TLC had a direct, positive relationship with teacher vitality. It also had a negative relationship with autonomy frustration and a positive indirect effect on teacher vitality by reducing the negative effect of autonomy frustration. Originality/value: TLC advances a new conceptual lens to study school leadership as a discursive process. The concept opens lines of inquiry that have not yet been examined in school settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish a line of inquiry into student trust in school peers by--(1) developing a valid and reliable measure and (2) investigating the potential influence of student trust in school peers on optimal school functioning. Design/methodology/approach: A non-experimental, survey research design was used. Ex-post facto data were collected in the spring of 2017 and spring of 2019 from a random sample of students in either the 5th, 7th, 9th or 11th grades in 79 schools located in a southwestern city in the US. Two types of analyses were performed. First, structural and convergent validity of the items measuring student trust in school peers were tested with a confirmatory factor analysis, and correlations with bullying and safety. The second analysis tested a hypothesized model with a full structural equation model using robust maximum likelihood estimation. Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis results report that items used to measure student trust in school peers share common variance with the latent trust factor. Both the 10-item and five-item measures had good model fit and parameter estimates. Additionally, the five-item measure had strong relationships with bullying and safety. As specified in the hypothesized model, student trust in peers had a strong, positive relationship with identification with school and positive, yet not as strong, of a relationship with academic grit. These relationships existed when accounting for student perceived teacher support. Originality/value: This study extends trust research to students' relational connections by conceptualizing student trust in school peers as a cognitive belief, constructing a valid measure and finding a relationship between student--peer trust and elements optimal school functioning.

Purpose: This study was designed to test the relationship between principal support of student psychological needs and faculty trust in students. Without direct empirical evidence to draw from, the line of reasoning integrated evidence on social-cognitive processes involved in trust formation and conversation theory to advance two hypotheses: (1) After accounting for school and leadership conditions, principal support of student psychological needs will be related to school differences in faculty trust in students; (2) The relationship between principal support of student psychological needs and faculty trust in students is mediated by a positive view of the teaching task. Design/methodology/approach: Hypotheses were tested with a nonexperimental, correlational research design using ex post facto data. Due to the hierarchical structure of the data, hypotheses were tested with a 2-2-1 multilevel mediation model in HLM 7.03 with restricted maximum likelihood estimation. Findings: Findings were consistent with the hypothesized relationships--principal support of student psychological needs was related to faculty trust in students and this relationship was mediated by teacher perceptions of the teaching task. Originality/value: School research has primarily examined interpersonal antecedents of trust, focusing on behaviors and characteristics that position a person or group as trustworthy. This study extends trust research to the cognitive side of the formation process, calling attention to the function of mental representation in shaping trust discernments. Results suggest that cognitive processes hold promise as both a source of faculty trust in students and as a malleable mental structure that school leaders can shape through conversation.